Edge of 17(03): Microsoft’s Web Browser is Still Lacking

Edge of 17(03): Microsoft's Web Browser is Still Lacking

It’s become a regular refrain: Microsoft releases a new version of Windows 10 that includes many improvements to Edge. But despite these improvements, I still can’t use this browser.

I find this frustrating. I also find it vaguely emblematic of the whole Creators Update experience: While we should give Microsoft some credit for adding lots of new features, I find myself also questioning the feature choices they’ve made. Especially when so many fundamental features are still missing in action.

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But the Creators Update is heading out into thew world and Microsoft Edge has been on my mind a lot lately. As you may have noticed, I’ve published numerous Windows 10 Tips related to Microsoft Edge over the past few weeks. This is because I’ve been updating the Microsoft Edge chapter in the Windows 10 Field Guide, and, as noted, the browser really did receive many functional updates as part of the Creators Update.

Some of these updates are useful, for sure. The new tab management capabilities are interesting, its ability to import more data from Chrome and other browsers will make switching easier, and the excellent reading experience has now been expanded to PDF and EPUB files. These changes are so sweeping—or the Creators Update is so lacking, your choice—that I described the improvements to Microsoft Edge as the single biggest change, collectively, in the Creators Update.

And yet. As is has always been the case, I (re)evaluate Microsoft Edge. And I find it lacking. In fact, if you go back to last summer, to the eve of the Anniversary Update, you will see that I similarly found the improvements to Edge in that release to be impressive. But still lacking.

Here in the first half of 2017, my complaints remain basically the same. And for all the things I do like about Edge—the text rendering on the high DPI displays that are common today, the built-in Reading View, the pleasant and modern user experience, the battery life advantages, and so on—simply can’t overcome this browser’s very real disadvantages.

To be fair, some of these complaints are very specific and may not be an issue for you. Workflow is what it is, and while I try to change how I do things from time-to-time, I’m as flawed as anyone else and expect things to work the way I prefer.

Some complaints may seem minor as well. But I believe that any technology transition—switching from Mac to Surface, perhaps, or from Android to iPhone—is a process that is more often undermined by many small things than by one big thing. Death by a thousand cuts, in other words.

So let me step through those complaints, one by one.

Web apps. With Chrome, you can pin web apps to the Windows 10 taskbar, and I use some—like Google Inbox and Google Calendar—in this fashion every day. Microsoft has promised to support modern web apps and to let them integrate with Windows 10 in the future. But that doesn’t work today at all.

Create desktop shortcuts. With Chrome and other web browsers, you can drag a site from the address bar to the Windows 10 desktop, creating a shortcut. Edge does not support this, still. But if you do create a shortcut from Chrome, you can open it with Edge. Because Microsoft, I guess.

General performance. Overall, Edge works more leisurely than Chrome, the web browser I prefer and use daily (both on PC and mobile). One example. When I right-click on something in Chrome, a feature-rich pop-up menu appears instantly. But when I do so in Edge, a small and mostly useless UWP-type menu appears slowly, and for some reason does so with an animation that adds to the feeling of slowness.

Favorites bar. I store my bookmarks in the Chrome Bookmarks bar, or what Edge calls the Favorites bar. Chrome gives me a lot of control over how this looks and works, and each item (bookmark or folder) can appear as an icon or as an icon with a label. In Edge, you can only choose between icons and icons with text, globally.

Mobile sync. Because Microsoft Edge only works in Windows 10, its incompatible with the Android phones and iPhones that almost 100 percent of the world uses. And that is a non-starter: When I sign-in to Chrome on my iPhone or Android handsets, all of my bookmarks, settings, and saved passwords come along for the ride. Edge can’t do this.

Extensions. Microsoft seems to have done a decent job adding Extensions to Edge. But the number of extensions is still lackluster and hasn’t grown in any meaningful way in the past year. And there are many extensions I rely on that are just not available in Edge, including one that can stop videos from auto-starting when you load a page.

Full-screen. Edge is the only browser on earth that doesn’t provide a full-screen page display mode in Windows (F11). This is inexcusable, especially when you consider that Windows 10 is, itself, designed to work in a touch-friendly tablet mode and that all other built-in apps do support a full-screen display. With Edge, you’re always stuck with the browser chrome. So much for getting out of the way. (Update: You can type SHIFT + WINKEY + ENTER to toggle a true full-screen display with Edge. It’s non-standard and non-discoverable, but it works. –Paul)

Developer. Maybe I just haven’t figured this out, but Chrome offers an incredible F12 Developer experience that includes a Sources view that helps me pull images and other content out of websites. (I use this to grab full-sized images from Microsoft sites, for example.) Edge does provide its own F12 Developer Tools functionality, of course. But I can’t figure out how to use it for this need.

Notifications. To be fair, this is sort of tied to the web apps note above, or soon will be. But websites and web apps are increasingly using native app-like notifications to keep users up-to-date. Chrome supports this functionality fully. But only a tiny subset of the web can provide notifications to Edge. And they won’t work at all unless the site is open in a tab at the time. Sorry, but that’s worse than useless.

You may not agree with all of that. But come on, that’s a long list. And for the silliness that Microsoft has added to Edge in the Creators Update—an e-books store? Seriously?—that it cannot address these fundamental issues is, to me, frustrating. And it means that I simply cannot use this browser, still. No matter how much I want to.

 

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  • mjw149

    17 April, 2017 - 9:25 am

    <p>Didn't MS invent the full screen browser display? Am I remembering that right?</p>

  • Jayson Pitkofsky

    17 April, 2017 - 9:25 am

    <p>I'd be curious to see the same comparison to I.E. I didn't realise how much feature inconsistency existed between Chrome and Edge, however, you'd think feature parity with I.E. should be something doable. I would think they would have access to the I.E. team or past Roadmaps of the product to accomplish that at the very least.</p>

  • Fusciacastle

    17 April, 2017 - 9:25 am

    <p>I can't argue with any of this article, no matter how much I want to. Yet another customer facing product that de- values the brand for Microsoft.</p>

  • PointGrey

    Premium Member
    17 April, 2017 - 9:29 am

    <p>Just a quick typo note: in the paragraph General Performance you write: "<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">When I right-click on something in Edge, a feature-rich pop-up menu appears instantly." I believe you meant Chrome there.</span></p><p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Always enjoy your articles, Paul.</span></p>

  • Associat0r

    17 April, 2017 - 9:32 am

    <p>Edge does support arbitrary full-screen. Just press WIN+SHIFT+ENTER and it works even better than non-UWP browsers for multi-tasking, since it allows the title bar and taskbar to appear while hovering over it.</p>

    • mikeneill

      17 April, 2017 - 9:36 am

      <blockquote><a href="#98275"><em>In reply to Associat0r:</em></a></blockquote><p><br></p><p>its kind of silly for them to change from the default f12</p>

      • Associat0r

        17 April, 2017 - 9:48 am

        <blockquote><a href="#98279" target="_blank"><em>In reply to mikeneill:</em></a></blockquote><p>They didn't change anything, since it's a system-wide UWP shortcut. It's just that they didn't add F11 to Edge yet for some strange reason.</p>

    • Usman

      Premium Member
      17 April, 2017 - 9:44 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#98275">In reply to Associat0r:</a></em></blockquote><p>That's a keyboard shortcut for uwp apps, which is saying something about edge's usability and how they couldn't map that to an F11 key.</p><p><br></p><p>Even Ctrl N doesn't always bring a new window above the current one, it'll work sometimes, but that's not good enough. I've posted in the forums about it and it bothers me how it just isn't consistent. Like how could they have not tested the new window functionality.</p><p><br></p><p>Another thing is that Ctrl + Shift + N doesn't create a incognito / private window, which again should be already baked in.</p><p><br></p><p>Why in the world can't they do basic things properly?</p>

      • Associat0r

        17 April, 2017 - 9:52 am

        <blockquote><a href="#98280"><em>In reply to Usman:</em></a></blockquote><p>InPrivate window was always the standard CTRL+SHIFT+P, just like in IE and FF.</p>

    • ErichK

      Premium Member
      17 April, 2017 - 12:59 pm

      <blockquote><a href="#98275"><em>In reply to Associat0r:</em></a></blockquote><p>Interesting. Just tried this out; didn't know that keyboard shortcut did that. Thanks!</p>

  • jimchamplin

    Premium Member
    17 April, 2017 - 9:34 am

    <p>I recently blew my Mac mini back to macOS Sierra, and it's such a pleasure to use Safari (itself far from perfect) compared to Edge. And I LIKE Edge. </p>

  • mikeneill

    17 April, 2017 - 9:35 am

    <p>For the developer issue use the network tab and filter on images. </p>

  • Bats

    17 April, 2017 - 9:50 am

    <p>My gosh,… What a complicated workflow. Hey, but you know what?</p><p>Enjoy your extra hours of battery life! </p><p>All this feature set that Paul craves, is probably the reason why Edge is good at the one thing it supposedly does best.</p>

  • Narg

    17 April, 2017 - 9:56 am

    <p>Long ago when browser wars were brewing I taught myself to NOT rely on a browser. Today I despise web sites that enforce the use of one browser over another. So, unfortunately I keep pinned Edge, I.E. and Chrome to my task bar all the time. Just to handle the idiotic behavior of web developers and their egotistic coding behaviors. Not that browsers make it easy to NOT be that way. As, I do program from time to time and find I too become at odds trying to fit web sites into a browser agnostic fitting. Chrome seems to make it the hardest these days. Especially on so called "standards" which Google seems to want to re-write these days. For better or worse, I can't seem to find.</p><p><br></p><p>Today, I'm on Edge 80% of the time. I love it's speed and ease. I disagree with some of the work flow arguments here. For example, editing and formatting the Favorites bar is dirt simple. Desktop shortcuts have been bad to use for years, not sure why anyone would do this. Mobile sync I could care less about since I keep different sites on my smart phone due to mobile limitations. Edge has enough extensions for me. Sure, some of the Chrome ones look like fun, but not really. I have no use for Full Screen. I find a lot of folks going to full screen on older browsers by mistake and can't figure out how to get back. It's a bad feature to me. And, I tend to dislike notifications. I'd rather control the experience rather than the experience controlling me (learned that in business 101, and in other classes on how to work smarter not harder…)</p>

    • BoItmanLives

      17 April, 2017 - 10:41 am

      <blockquote><a href="#98285"><em>In reply to Narg:</em></a></blockquote><p>Newsflash: it's not about you. </p>

      • PhilipVasta

        17 April, 2017 - 1:45 pm

        <blockquote><a href="#98313"><em>In reply to BoItmanLives:</em></a></blockquote><p>What is your problem? He's just presenting his opinion, as Paul did in the article.</p>

    • Delmont

      17 April, 2017 - 11:17 am

      <blockquote><a href="#98285"><em>In reply to Narg:</em></a></blockquote><p>What web sites do you need 3 browsers for? What web sites do not work/render with Chrome? I agree with the other post: it's not about you. Stop acting like you're 12.</p>

      • Jeff Jones

        17 April, 2017 - 6:42 pm

        <blockquote><em><a href="#98332">In reply to Delmont:</a></em></blockquote><p>I can make a guess that he could be accessing sites using an Active X control. For example, many IP cameras still seem fond of this, even newer ones. That's the main reason I have multiple browsers pinned. I have Chrome for regular use, IE for archaic use, Edge to keep testing from time to time, and Firefox also for rare cases usually related to Chrome's cache needing to be flushed.</p><p><br></p>

  • CompSciGuy31415

    17 April, 2017 - 9:58 am

    <p>Nice Stevie Nicks reference, Paul ? </p>

  • jbinaz

    17 April, 2017 - 9:59 am

    <p>My problems with edge:</p><p><br></p><p>It randomly closes. Here one second, gone the next. It's better in the CU, but it still happens. </p><p><br></p><p>Some sites, esp. some of those stupid "20 Facts You Didn't Know About…" (yes, I read them sometimes) take forever to load, esp. compared to Chrome. </p><p><br></p><p>LastPass doesn't always detect form fields as well as Chrome. It may not be MS's fault, but it affects my experience. </p><p><br></p><p>Some of Microsoft's own sites don't work well with it. Dynamics CRM being one. Had and page the other day, forget which site/app, but every time I typed a character, it froze for 20 seconds before a string of characters would appear and then freeze again as I started typing. Worked fine in Chrome.</p><p><br></p><p>Overall performance on my Dell venue 8 pro is much worse compared to Chrome. </p><p><br></p><p>And Paul, nice picture to go with the title. "Just like a white-winged dove…."</p><p><br></p>

    • Delmont

      17 April, 2017 - 11:18 am

      <blockquote><a href="#98287"><em>In reply to jbinaz:</em></a></blockquote><p>Edge locks up on me on Facebook. Doesn't matter the PC either. all of sudden you get that bar at the bottom of the screen trying to recover the web page, then it's searching for a solution that Microsoft NEVER EVER EVER G'DAMN FINDS A SOLUTION FOR ANYTHING IN 20 YEARS! </p>

      • Jeff Jones

        17 April, 2017 - 6:35 pm

        <blockquote><em><a href="#98333">In reply to Delmont:</a></em></blockquote><p><br></p><p>LOL. Actually of the 100 (or however many times) I've seen the search for a solution, I did actually get a solution, ONCE. It was exciting! Sadly though, I've never seen it find a real solution again.</p>

    • lwetzel

      Premium Member
      17 April, 2017 - 11:20 am

      <blockquote><a href="#98287"><em>In reply to jbinaz:</em></a></blockquote><p>"It randomly closes." This is something I have notice in UWP apps. Can't say all but when it happens it is a UWP.</p>

      • jbinaz

        18 April, 2017 - 5:24 pm

        <blockquote><em><a href="#98335">In reply to lwetzel:</a></em></blockquote><p>Good point. It happens to me with Groove Music, too. Hadn't put 2 + 2 together that they are both UWP apps. I'll be that the issue is related to UWP apps.</p>

  • Watney

    17 April, 2017 - 10:01 am

    <p>Gmail doesn't work worth beans in Edge. </p>

    • Associat0r

      17 April, 2017 - 11:43 am

      <blockquote><a href="#98291"><em>In reply to Watney:</em></a></blockquote><p>Gmail Seems to work fine here.</p>

  • Chris_Kez

    Premium Member
    17 April, 2017 - 10:08 am

    <p>Given Microsoft's current focus on continuously updated cross-platform services​, it seems strange that Edge is:</p><p>1) Not updated through the Windows Store</p><p>2) Not on iOS or Android</p><p><br></p>

    • MarkH

      Premium Member
      18 April, 2017 - 1:28 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#98292">In reply to Chris_Kez:</a></em></blockquote><p>The problem stems from the fact that Edge is inextricably (and stupidly) tied to EdgeHTML, which is a Windows component, and not unique to just Edge. So they CAN'T update it through the store independently from major Windows updates and it also can't be ported to any other OS. So, basically, it's all the pitfalls of UWP and literally NONE of the (admittedly few) advantages.</p>

  • 880510

    17 April, 2017 - 10:15 am

    <p>I agree. I do use Edge as my daily driver, and I absolutely prefer it in tablet mode (yes use tablet mode frequently), BUT, it's got so many issues as you mention, that I have Chrome on immediate stand-by. Edge drove me to Chrome, when Windows 10 first came out, I was moved to use Chrome only for the first time ever when Win10 originally came out. Over time Edge has improved and I have moved to Edge as primary – but it still aggravates me. I can't stand that it opens up my previous tabs – please someone tell me how to stop that. </p><p><br></p><p>What really irritates me is how Microsoft market's Edge – like Edge is an advantage. By highlighting it as an advantage of Windows 10 it makes the whole OS look bad. I somehow think if they took a lower key approach, i.e. don't push it so much, people would find it to have some advantages and find use for it, as you mention it does do some things well, battery, high dpi, reading mode.</p><p><br></p><p>In summary, I use Edge, it's getting better – but overall it frustrates me. </p><p><br></p><p>As always, opinions are my own and do not represent in any whay the opinions of the company that employs me.</p>

  • siko

    17 April, 2017 - 10:23 am

    <p>Since I strayed away from gmail/google years and years ago (and I don't use the desktop to save my favorites) I don't feel your pain and am very happy with edge since I got my hands on it… </p><p><br></p><p>*EDIT*</p><p>We could develop especially for you the 'create shortcut on desktop' with optional pin to startmenu/taskbar 🙂 </p><p>https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-edge/extensions/getting-started</p><p><br></p><p>And as @<a href="https://www.thurrott.com/users/Associat0r&quot; target="_blank"><u>Associat0r</u></a> already mentioned WIN + SHIFT + ENTER maximizes edge as any other modern app.</p>

    • hrlngrv

      Premium Member
      17 April, 2017 - 8:55 pm

      <p><a href="#98295"><em>In reply to siko:</em></a></p><p>Gotta wonder why UWP apps need a different full-screen key combination ([Win]+[Shift]+[Enter]) than desktop programs ([F11]). Are there keyboards with [Win] keys but not function keys?</p>

  • mercblue281

    17 April, 2017 - 10:31 am

    <p>Edge gets the nod – Family safety enforces rules in Edge only. Have to say there will be an occasional site that will hose Edge but that has been happening less and less over time.</p><p>Edge works pretty damn well – was skeptical but it suits my needs. Those needs do not include any services provided by Google though. Those jerks seem to intentionally sabotage functionality on Windows/MSFT devices, programs etc. Not that I would use their services but the lack of competitive fairness while MSFT opens to everything is quite disgusting. </p>

    • tbtalbot

      Premium Member
      18 April, 2017 - 10:53 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#98311">In reply to mercblue281:</a></em></blockquote><p>I've got 5 kids and Edge is essential because of the awesome family controls. One of the kids is pretty undependable – so that feature means Edge is on all our family machines and Chrome is blocked except on the adults' accounts.</p>

    • tbtalbot

      Premium Member
      18 April, 2017 - 10:53 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#98311">In reply to mercblue281:</a></em></blockquote><p>Great point!</p>

  • skane2600

    17 April, 2017 - 10:41 am

    <p>I've always wondered why MS rushed Edge out when they could have waited until they had a competitive product. Perhaps they bought into the IE hate and felt they had to produce something new. The interesting thing about IE is that web developers hated it back when it had about 90% market share – it was dev idealism over good business sense IMO.</p>

    • SvenJ

      17 April, 2017 - 2:53 pm

      <blockquote><a href="#98312"><em>In reply to skane2600:</em></a><em> </em>I expect they needed something that could reasonably be used via touch. IE isn't any more so now than it was in XP Tablet Edition…etc. If you are going to have the inherent ability to be desktop or tablet focused you need tablet aware apps, and a browser is essential to most. (if only to download Chrome ;( ) I use Edge almost exclusively and find no issues. Largely I think because I have not spent 20 years aligning my workflow to the way Chrome works. In fact I use a browser to read stuff on the web or look stuff up when I need to. I don't live in it. I have apps that do my mail and calendar, and weather and such. I pin important sites to my start menu, or favorite them. I don't clutter my desktop or task bar with them. Only extension I use is LastPass, and I did fine before it was available. I don't use an ad blocker as I can ignore them just as I do on OTA TV. Itis the price of getting content IMHO. Paul serves ads and has asked us to please not block them, or subscribe to the site. I don't plan to encumber a nice lite, efficient, browser with dozens of extensions. So, whatever. I bet most people believe Chrome is wonderful because they have been told it is, and Edge is crappy because they have been told it is. </blockquote><p><br></p>

      • skane2600

        17 April, 2017 - 3:52 pm

        <blockquote><em><a href="#98421">In reply to SvenJ:</a></em></blockquote><p>You make a good point about touch although there's probably no technical reason why touch couldn't have been added to IE. Also my WP 8.1 doesn't run Edge but the browser still supports touch. </p>

  • davidblouin

    17 April, 2017 - 10:42 am

    <p>This is the company fill with developer that let Windows Phone dies because they were too busy making apps for the competitors and that's years before Satya came out with it's mobile first (well except for Microsoft's mobile platform that is) mentality.</p><p><br></p><p>If i were you , i'd start digging Edge's grave 18 months ago.</p>

  • Elindalyne

    Premium Member
    17 April, 2017 - 10:57 am

    <p>In regards to developer mode: Network -&gt; Filter by Content type</p><p><br></p><p>I go back and forth between browser usage. I mainly use chrome for development related things because the tooling is far more responsive than Edge's tooling. For things like watching videos or general browsing I'll mostly use edge because of chrome's resource usage.</p>

  • lwetzel

    Premium Member
    17 April, 2017 - 11:00 am

    <p>Paul, </p><p>In the quote below from you article I am lost at whether your praising or complaining about Edge.</p><p><br></p><p><strong>"General performance.</strong> Overall, Edge works more leisurely than Chrome, the web browser I prefer and use daily (both on PC and mobile). One example. <em>When I right-click on something in Edge, a feature-rich pop-up menu appears instantly. But when I do so in Edge, a small and mostly useless UWP-type menu appears slowly, and for some reason does so with an animation that adds to the feeling of slowness."</em></p><p>As a test I loaded Chrome and did right clicked both browsers on the same object on your home page and the following is the result. Chrome menu on left. Edge menu on right.</p><p><img src="http://i.imgur.com/goCUtoa.png"></p&gt;

  • Delmont

    17 April, 2017 - 11:14 am

    <p>How do you pin Chrome Web apps to the task bar? thx</p>

  • lwetzel

    Premium Member
    17 April, 2017 - 11:16 am

    <p>Paul,</p><p>Just curious. Do you take the list of complaints and pass them on to Microsoft or are you banking on them following your site? Of course the latter would have to be someone of import that could make it possible to get those changes made. With all the contacts you have surely it would be best to pass them on to those who can give the best chance of getting them done.</p><p><br></p>

  • Echo64

    17 April, 2017 - 11:23 am

    <p>Ad-blocking extensions still don't work properly on YouTube, I've tried many of them including the uBlock fork and they seem to work fine everywhere except YouTube, until this is fixed it's hard to make the switch over to Edge.</p>

    • Associat0r

      17 April, 2017 - 11:40 am

      <blockquote><a href="#98336"><em>In reply to Echo64:</em></a></blockquote><p>Both uBlock Origin and Adguard extension work fine on YouTube.</p>

      • Echo64

        17 April, 2017 - 12:02 pm

        <blockquote><em><a href="#98350">In reply to Associat0r:</a></em></blockquote><p>No, there is a white space on the homepage above the recommended videos, it removes the ad but leaves the white space. It works fine on the videos, but not the webpage itself. It needs to work 100% before I switch over.</p>

        • Associat0r

          17 April, 2017 - 12:17 pm

          <blockquote><a href="#98354"><em>In reply to Echo64:</em></a></blockquote><p>I don't have any white space above the recommended videos. Did you set up your adblocker and filter lists correctly? Maybe try reset them to defaults and try again.</p>

  • Associat0r

    17 April, 2017 - 11:51 am

    <blockquote><a href="#98352"><em>In reply to jwpear:</em></a></blockquote><p>WIN+SHIFT+ENTER does full-screen in every proper UWP app, and therefore also in Edge.</p>

  • Rob_Wade

    17 April, 2017 - 12:07 pm

    <ol><li>I'm not sure I'm understanding the web apps issue. I guess I don't access much in the way web apps to recognize a problem. I have Outlook.com pinned as tile (as I do most websites I actually use regularly) and that seems to work fine. I don't like the task bar and I don't use it, so this may be a problem I don't understand because I don't use the task bar.</li><li>I don't make shortcuts for websites because I either pin them as a tile or relegate them to an entry in Favorites if it will be a less-visited site.</li><li>Okay, on general performance I totally agree. I find myself very often switching to IE11 because some sites just don't work right or take forever to render in Edge. It's almost impossible to post entries at WindowsCentral in Edge…I have to switch to IE11.</li><li>I use to utilize the Favorites bar in IE11 and began using it in Edge, but realized it just took up space. I either pin a site as a tile (preferred) or leave in the Favorites list.</li><li>Mobile sync is largely a joke in W10 compared to Win8. It's that simple. I find the integrated experience in Win8/WP8 to be ultimately much better than W10.</li><li>I don't use extensions, so I have no frame of reference to compare.</li><li>The one thing I do know about full screen issues is that W10 is horrible at it compared to Win8. And it's even worse if you have more than one monitor–Tablet Mode is killed immediately and what little I could do in Tablet Mode regarding full screen use (or anything else, for that matter) goes away.</li><li>I've not used Dev Mode in browsers, so I've not reference to compare.</li><li>I don't rely on the Notification/Action Center, so this isn't really an issue for me.</li></ol><p>I really WANT to like Edge. It's a little bit better for touch screens than IE11, and I'll do just about anything to avoid using Google's stuff. But Edge just needs so much work.</p>

  • JerryH

    Premium Member
    17 April, 2017 - 12:09 pm

    <p>Being picky here, but… Paul, in the general performance section you compare the speed of a right-click menu in Edge to the speed of a right-click menu in Edge. That first one in your article should be Chrome.</p>

  • rameshthanikodi

    17 April, 2017 - 12:17 pm

    <p>"One example. When I right-click on something in <strong>Edge</strong>, a feature-rich pop-up menu appears instantly. But when I do so in Edge, a small and mostly useless UWP-type menu appears slowly"</p><p>I think you mean Chrome, Paul :)</p>

  • rameshthanikodi

    17 April, 2017 - 12:23 pm

    <p> IMO I still find Edge faster and smoother than Chrome, but, Edge has showstoppers like sudden freezes and outright crashes, which make it unusable for me. I don't care for web notifications (I find the current implementations very annoying).</p>

  • jim.mcintosh

    17 April, 2017 - 12:30 pm

    <p>EDGE meets two paramount requirements:</p><p><br></p><p>1). It's NOT Google</p><p>2). It's NOT Netscrape</p><p><br></p><p>Assuming IE is on the way out, what other choices are there?</p><p><br></p>

    • rob4jen

      17 April, 2017 - 12:55 pm

      <blockquote><a href="#98373"><em>In reply to jim.mcintosh:</em></a></blockquote><blockquote><em>Opera</em></blockquote><p><br></p>

      • Vuppe

        17 April, 2017 - 1:03 pm

        <blockquote><a href="#98389"><em>In reply to rob4jen:</em></a></blockquote><p>Opera is now a Chromium clone, Opera co-developed Blink with Google. </p>

    • karlinhigh

      Premium Member
      20 April, 2017 - 10:31 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#98373">In reply to jim.mcintosh:</a></em></blockquote><p>Vivaldi</p><p>Brave</p>

  • mebby

    17 April, 2017 - 12:36 pm

    <p>Nice song reference (title and graphic)!</p>

  • dougkinzinger

    17 April, 2017 - 1:02 pm

    <p>OK, I'm going to make myself sound like a fool, but…but…I've been using IE since day 1, and just switched to Edge as my daily driver about 10 months ago, once Adblock extension came out. Since I hate Chrome like the plague I never left IE. Edge, however, while quirky has been…fine. What am I not understanding is why all the Edge hate? It works fine. That said I DO occasionally miss full screen mode. And I get the favorites bar flack too. Still though – worlds better than IE.</p>

    • Associat0r

      17 April, 2017 - 1:14 pm

      <blockquote><a href="#98391"><em>In reply to dougkinzinger:</em></a></blockquote><p>Try Adguard or uBlock Origin, they're much&nbsp;more&nbsp;CPU / battery friendly than Adblock.&nbsp;Also WIN+SHIFT+ENTER does full-screen, works in every proper UWP app.</p>

      • Siv

        17 April, 2017 - 3:45 pm

        <blockquote><a href="#98397"><em>In reply to Associat0r:</em></a></blockquote><p>Where the hell did you find WIN+SHIFT+ENTER that's brilliant!?</p><p>I have looked for a way to go full screen Edge and have always thought it must be there somewhere!?</p><p>Now if they'd put "Refresh" onto the right click menu all would be well in the World!!</p>

        • Sihaz

          18 April, 2017 - 10:04 am

          <blockquote><a href="#98434"><em>In reply to Siv:</em></a></blockquote><p>F5 for refresh if you are using a keyboard</p>

  • ErichK

    Premium Member
    17 April, 2017 - 1:02 pm

    <p>Have to admit the one nagging point that Paul lists — the inability to drag a site from the address bar to create a desktop shortcut — bugs the heck out of me too.</p><p><br></p><p>I use Edge frequently, but I think Firefox is still my main driver.</p>

  • Chris Payne

    17 April, 2017 - 1:09 pm

    <p>Good article, but fyi, there are an unusual amount of typos here. </p><p><br></p><ul><li>"And yet. As <em>is has </em>always been the case"</li><li>"But the Creators Update is heading out into <em>thew </em>world"</li><li>"When I right-click on something in <em>Edge</em>, a feature-rich pop-up menu appears instantly. But when I do so in Edge"</li><li>"Because Microsoft Edge only works in Windows 10, <em>its</em> incompatible"</li></ul><p><br></p><p>Maybe a few more I didn't see.</p>

  • will

    Premium Member
    17 April, 2017 - 1:19 pm

    <p>The biggest issue: <em>Edge needs to be updated OUTSIDE of the OS! </em></p><p>We are now on the third major release of Windows 10 and Edge only gets major updates as part of the OS. Microsoft needs to move to a rapid release and start knocking off the user requests as well as improving the core browsing experience. Edge should follow what Google does with Chrome and have a major release every 6-8 weeks, and offer a beta (or Insider) channel for early adopters/testers. There is no reason Microsoft should not have a killer browsing experience with Edge inside of Windows.</p>

  • North of 49th

    Premium Member
    17 April, 2017 - 1:26 pm

    <p>I try to use Edge as my daily driver, but I don't have these complaints – I guess I'm not using web apps to their fullest potential.&nbsp;&nbsp;I'm one of those people who use the full fledged version of Outlook desktop client.</p><p>I know in Edge that you can pin pages to the Start Menu but I guess Paul, from your frustration, you really want the short-cuts on either the desktop or taskbar.</p>

  • brettscoast

    Premium Member
    17 April, 2017 - 1:35 pm

    <p>Good post Paul</p><p>Your points are extremely valid, at this point in time what we have with edge simply doesn't cut it. There is no way many users can use this browser regularly as is. MS have to get the basics right before we worry about features that no one needs.</p>

  • siko

    17 April, 2017 - 1:48 pm

    <p>Oh, and really cool is the swipe page forward/backward, like we had on wp 8 :)</p><p>(And edge goes full screen in tablet mode 🙂 )</p>

  • euskalzabe

    17 April, 2017 - 2:15 pm

    <p>Fully agreed. Bring Edge to Android, then my desktop PC has a chance of me using it on Windows 10. As long as there's no mobile android version, there's NO chance I'll even consider Edge. Too many times I start a reading a long article on the desktop and then keep going on my phone around the house. I'm not about to copy the link, email it to myself, open said email on the phone, then finally open the link. Nope. No way.</p>

  • Peter Vassiliou

    17 April, 2017 - 2:26 pm

    <p>I disagree with most points in this article. Edge has improved a lot in the creators update. Stability is top, performance also great. The most important extensions are also available for Edge. I love the way it integrates with Windows 10.</p><p>I have an Android phone and I don't mind the lack of favorites sync. There are ways to work around this. Just import your bookmarks to Chrome. How many changes do you have per month? For me, I add new favorites very rare and I don't really care about the lack of sync. Chrome is my second choice and in Windows 10 I only use it when I must. I have to admit that with the Creators update I haven't felt the need to start Chrome. Everything works really great in Edge. The Web Apps are important only if you are using Google services, especially photos and gmail.</p><p>I agree that Edge should be updated outside of the OS schedule.</p>

    • Jeff Jones

      17 April, 2017 - 6:13 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#98416">In reply to Peter Vassiliou:</a></em></blockquote><p> Most important extensions? You mean like The Camelizer, Hoverhound, Speedtest, Keepass, Netflix Enhancer, AccessURL, Chromecast, Google Translate, etc.</p><p>Browser plugins are a bit like an app store where it doesn't matter if you have all the big name apps if you don't also have the wide selection of "handy utility apps" that everyone ends up using collectively.</p>

      • Associat0r

        17 April, 2017 - 7:35 pm

        <blockquote><a href="#98494"><em>In reply to Jeff Jones:</em></a></blockquote><p>Edge has a great translator extension.</p>

      • Peter Vassiliou

        18 April, 2017 - 2:18 am

        <blockquote><a href="#98494"><em>In reply to Jeff Jones:</em></a></blockquote><p><br></p><p>Edge has a built in stream to device function and it works with any DLNA compatible TV or set top box. Chromecast is exclusive to Chrome, so this is not a fair comparison. </p><p>I do like Chrome, but I do not like its text rendering. Using Edge on my Surface Book is a joy and with the Creators Update it is very stable too. For my needs there is no reason to go back to Chrome.</p>

  • hrlngrv

    Premium Member
    17 April, 2017 - 3:34 pm

    <p>IF (I'm not convinced) rapid updates like Chrome and Firefox are better than slow update cycles, Edge only receiving major updates once or twice a year puts it at a disadvantage.</p>

    • skane2600

      17 April, 2017 - 3:43 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#98430">In reply to hrlngrv:</a></em></blockquote><p>I agree that rapid updates aren't necessarily a good thing. I believe updates are best done when there's a set of compelling new features or to eliminate a significant vulnerability. In general it's unlikely that these events would correspond in time to OS updates. </p>

      • siko

        17 April, 2017 - 4:26 pm

        <blockquote><a href="#98432"><em>In reply to skane2600:</em></a></blockquote><p>I'm pretty sure Edge's vulnerabilities are patched with regular OS updates… </p><p>I definitely prefer stability over greater features…</p>

        • skane2600

          17 April, 2017 - 5:21 pm

          <blockquote><em><a href="#98455">In reply to siko:</a></em></blockquote><p>You're probably right about patches to Edge, but my main point is that releases should be based on significant milestones relating directly to the product, not based on the calendar or the release of other products. </p>

          • siko

            17 April, 2017 - 6:09 pm

            <blockquote><a href="#98463"><em>In reply to skane2600:</em></a></blockquote><p>So, maybe that will happen one day, in one way or the other. Right now Edge is pretty close to be the most pleasant browser, usability and system resource wise, I can imagine on Windows. </p><p>YMMV</p>

  • Angela_WWW

    17 April, 2017 - 4:44 pm

    <p>I thought that I was the only one who finding a web page that I like will select "open in Internet Explorer", then "Save Short Cut to Desktop". It is a pain.</p>

    • dpbakertx

      17 April, 2017 - 6:24 pm

      <blockquote><a href="#98457"><em>In reply to Angela_WWW:</em></a></blockquote><p>Have to say I like a clean desktop, never more than half a dozen icons. Find a web page I like or visit often in Edge, I just pin it to Start so there's no need for a shortcut icon on my desktop&nbsp;and I can have a live tile (sometimes, not all sites are capable). Do the same thing with web apps. Even with that said, I'm sure there are those who prefer to stay in the past as long as they can, instead of advancing their productivity realistically and in a different way.</p>

  • dcdevito

    17 April, 2017 - 4:52 pm

    <p>I'd switch (and have) operating systems before switching browsers. The beauty of Google's ecosystem is Chrome, with it you get your own personal computing experience on any and every platform you can freely choose, including great web apps. </p><p><br></p><p>As you said Paul, with Edge you're only on Windows 10 desktop. So no matter what features it has (or even promises to have) it can't match Chrome in any meaningful way. </p>

  • edboyhan

    17 April, 2017 - 6:24 pm

    <p>Paul, as you say workflows differ: you like bookmarks, I prefer to keep a lot of tabs open instead (I often have 90 tabs open). For me the open tab list is in many ways my todo list. So I find the set tabs aside feature a step in my direction, but the feature (for me) is not complete. BTW I find that Chrome crumbles with a lot of tabs open way before Edge does.</p><p>I've not been able to set pinned tabs aside, and it seems to me I have to set all unpinned tabs aside — I can't pick and choose which tabs to set aside — this hampers the ability to create tab groupings.</p><p>I do agree that the ability to pin web pages to the taskbar is desirable; adding shortcuts to the desktop: not so much. Since W7 I just don't use the desktop at all — everything is focused on the taskbar.</p><p>Frankly, I don't see the performance issues you allude to when right clicking on web page items — in fact I find Edge to be quite snappy; I also don't find the pop up menus to be particularly lacking as to content. I just tried it on Chrome, and I didn't find anything all that astounding in the Chrome popup — it might have more to do with the extensions one has installed on each browser.</p><p>For me, I decided early on to live only with Edge on my W10 machines. At the beginning it was a challenge, and I had to keep a machine running Chrome on W8.1 close by. These days I hardly ever have to turn to Chrome — in fact I'm getting ready to upgrade the "Chrome" machine to W10 and Edge.</p><p>The one big deficiency I see with Edge is that on some web pages, it doesn't render correctly: sometimes embedded images are missing, and sometimes dialog fill-ins don't work correctly. These occurrences are rare, and in most cases opening the page in IE resolves the issue. One ironic/embarrassing case where Edge breaks down (and also with IE) is on certain Microsoft Partner sites (:oops :grin).</p>

  • Jeff Jones

    17 April, 2017 - 6:24 pm

    <p>If you have personal and work accounts at various websites the Chrome user login ability is a killer feature in my opinion. It's extremely helpful to have separate bookmarks and the ability to be logged into the same website under different user names.</p>

  • Waethorn

    17 April, 2017 - 6:50 pm

    <p>"<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">And it means that I simply cannot use this browser, still. No matter how much I want to."</span></p><p><br></p><p>Interesting choice of words there. What is it with Chrome that makes you want to use Edge? Because according to your own writing, you're looking for a reason to try Edge, for, what exactly? It sounds like Chrome does the job and has the features you want and need…. Why is it frustrating to you (your own words) that you've already found a solution that works?</p>

    • hrlngrv

      Premium Member
      17 April, 2017 - 8:08 pm

      <p><a href="#98501"><em>In reply to Waethorn:</em></a></p><p>It's possible to want the better battery life and the better high res display while also wanting better bookmarks and extensions.</p><p>Still, a fair question: why would anyone want to use Edge rather than, say, want Chrome to provide better battery life and better high res display? Wanting to use Edge does sound like pure fanboyism.</p>

    • RonH

      Premium Member
      18 April, 2017 - 12:46 pm

      <blockquote><a href="#98501"><em>In reply to Waethorn:</em></a></blockquote><p>How about not wanting to use Chrome because it is from Google?</p>

  • Aaron Kulbe

    17 April, 2017 - 7:46 pm

    <p>One of the things (that I'm sure other folks have mentioned before) that bothers me… you can't edit an existing bookmark. What? MS's answer is delete and re-create. So what do you do if you have a site like <a href="messenger.com" target="_blank">FB Messenger</a>, for example, where it doesn't keep the URL to simply messenger.com, but inserts the ID of the last user you had a conversation with.</p><p><br></p><p>It seems to me like for edge to make a compelling case for folks to use it as their primary browser, they'd at least be at feature parity with the competition.</p>

  • hrlngrv

    Premium Member
    17 April, 2017 - 8:17 pm

    <p>CORRECTED</p><p>Edge uses a database to store favorites, but it seems to require names for each entry rather than automatically generating a key which is separate and distinct from the name. Still a mystery why MSFT believes this is a better approach than Chrome or Firefox uses. Maybe NIH syndrome?</p>

  • glenn8878

    17 April, 2017 - 8:36 pm

    <p>It's mostly about using Google services that make me stay with Chrome. Edge has little advantages aside from being part of the Windows experience, which needs much improvement. Classic Windows is much better. I don't like the Modern UI with emphasis on white spaces. They need to pour on the features. </p>

  • lordbaal1

    17 April, 2017 - 9:52 pm

    <p>"&nbsp;Chrome gives me a lot of control over how this looks and works, and each item (bookmark or folder) can appear as an icon or as an icon with a label. In Edge, you can only choose between icons and icons with text" ? Arent them two the same? In chrome, you can have icon or icons with a label. How is that any different then icons with text?</p><p><br></p><p>web apps, they're called bookmarks.</p><p><br></p><p>Microsoft doesn't create all extensions.</p>

  • YouWereWarned

    18 April, 2017 - 12:23 am

    <p>While your IT folks are fine-tuning this website, maybe this: a macro function that cut-n-pastes these comment sections and sends them to Satya and Friends, on a daily basis. Mark the email "Huge enterprise license order"</p><p>I'm at the point where it seems that NOBODY there is listening.</p>

  • Luigi Cavallo

    18 April, 2017 - 3:17 am

    <p>I get a full screen mode in Edge if I use the Shift-Win-Enter keyboard shortcut. Or am I missing something?</p>

  • tbtalbot

    Premium Member
    18 April, 2017 - 10:49 am

    <p>I'm not sure these are fair. I use both browsers and like both. I don't use the features that Paul complains about, though i do like Chrome's right click to 'incognito mode' from a link (which Edge doesn't offer in the same way), because it allows me to view youtube videos on topics I don't want future recommendations on.)</p><p><br></p><p>I won't think of using anything but Edge on an airplane because the battery life is so much better. Edge works on pretty much every site I use now (it did not do so before).</p>

  • captobie

    18 April, 2017 - 9:43 pm

    <p>Notifications in Chrome are evil. Whenever a website asks to send me notifications I click "no". Every single time. That Edge lacks that isn't a flaw, it's a feature in my opinion.</p>

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